Randy and Mary Raines Harper on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the church and its construction contractors and consultants because of the damage done to their 4-acre lake and because the church has failed to remedy the problem nearly two years later.

In August 2011, church officials signed an agreement, saying that the church would hire Southeastern Pond Management to assess the damage done to the Harpers' property and that the church would pay for remediation of the lake and complete the remediation, except for re-establishment of a mature fish population, by March 1, 2012.

Today, Senior Pastor Jim Savage defended the church's inaction, saying the church has been limited in what it can do.

"I'm sure the neighbor is frustrated with the amount of time this has taken, but the church has moved as quickly as we've been allowed to move," Savage said.

The church fired its original contractor, and the church's environmental firm and Southeastern Pond Management both agreed it would do no good to try to fix the problem while construction ia still going, Savage said. Construction is not expected to be completed for another two weeks to 30 days, Savage said today.

Plus, any remediation work must be approved by ADEM, he said.

"We had this whole plan laid out from Southeastern Pond Management of what we were going to do. We submitted the plan to ADEM, and we have not heard back from ADEM," Savage said. "We're still prepared to move forward and do this right."

ADEM spokesman Scott Hughes today confirmed that Riverchase United Methodist Church submitted an action plan to ADEM on Oct. 5. "We are currently reviewing that, and we will make a decision at the appropriate time," Hughes said.